Endgame
by MotherTucker
Summary: A fluffy Tuckson one-shot set in the same universe as my other story Let Her Go. My OC Nicole, asks for her parents help on a class assignment.


A/N: I'm not sure about this one. I just got the idea and started writing. Also, I have no clue why my ideas are stuck so far in the future, but here ya go - hope you like it! Obvs, I don't own 'em, I just take them out to play :)

"Come on, Mom," Nicole whined. "It's for school."

Olivia sighed as she sat down on the couch opposite her daughter. She saw Ed hide a smile behind his coffee cup and made a mental note to make him pay for this later.

Twelve-year-old Nicole was working on a project for her summer writing camp. Her parents had been a little surprised when she chose that one for her educational option. She'd never shown an interest in writing before.

For this project, she had to interview someone in her family about an event from their past and write a paper about it. She was at that age where she thought that grown-up relationships were all about romance, so she wanted to do her project on how Olivia and Ed met and fell in love.

Olivia tried to get her to write about anything else. Nicole knew they were both cops, but that they didn't really work together all that much. How was Olivia supposed to explain in tween terms their rocky past? Ed was no help. He just encouraged Nicole to write about whatever she found interesting.

"I don't really remember the first time we met," Olivia told her daughter. "I know there were a few cases that involved IAB way back when, but I don't know which was first."

That caught Ed's attention. "You really don't remember?" He said, feigning hurt feelings.

"You do?" She mocked in disbelief.

Nicole just watched the two of them and turned on her recorder. This sounded promising. She got on her knees and turned to lean on the back of the couch so she could see her dad, too.

"Of course," he answered with no further explanation.

"You do not." Olivia remembered the feeling of dread she used to feel when he entered a room back them, but she didn't think that was something to share with their daughter at this point.

"Let's see," he began. "Your hair was almost as short as mine, and it was one of the few times we were actually on the same side back then."

Olivia raised her eyebrows. He went on to remind her about Marcosi. "You were the one who figured it out," he told his wife.

"Figured out what?" Nicole asked.

"That it wasn't a dirty cop at all, but a schmuck pretending to be a cop." Ed told her.

"Wow," Olivia said. She was impressed. She kind of remembered that case, but she'd forgotten that was the first time she met him. He just winked at her and went back to his coffee.

"What did you mean, Daddy?" Nicole interrupted their moment.

"About what?" He asked. The case seemed pretty straightforward to him.

"About being on the same side," she answered. "You're both cops, weren't you always on the same side."

Olivia laughed out loud. That was a loaded question.

Ed nodded to Olivia to answer. He wasn't going to touch that one.

"Mom?" Nicole said impatiently sensing there were some good stories in her parents past.

"Baby, I don't think you need to hear all those old stories," Olivia tried to divert. "Why don't I tell you about our first date or how he proposed?"

"No, no, no," the girl whined. "I need the good stuff."

Ed unsuccessfully tried to hid a chuckle. Olivia shot him a look, and he quickly tried to wipe the smile from his face. He failed.

"Why don't you just tell her about the time I arrested you?" Ed offered flatly.

"What?" Nicole squealed. "Daddy actually arrested you?"

Olivia shot more daggers at her husband. This wasn't a story she'd planned to tell either of her kids. Ever.

Just then, Noah trudged through the living room on the way to the kitchen. Olivia swore she'd never seen a person eat as much as he seemed to be able to. He was seventeen, so it was to be expected. But it still amazed her how much their grocery bill increased over the past few years.

He caught the tail end of Nicole's outburst. "Dad arrested you? When?"

Great. Just great. Now she was going to have to figure out how to explain that insanity to both kids.

"It was a long time ago," Olivia said with a sigh. "You don't really want to hear about it."

Noah dropped into a chair. "Uh, yeah. We do."

"What did you do to get arrested?" Nicole asked.

"Nothing," she answered sweetly. "Your dad had it all wrong. It was embarrassing, really." She was baiting him, since this whole topic was all his fault.

"Oh come on," Ed joined in. "We had your DNA on the murder weapon."

Nicole's eyes were wide as saucers, and Noah had scooted to the edge of the chair. Olivia chucked a throw pillow at Ed. He deflected it onto the floor and shot her an apologetic look. He knew this wasn't on her list of stories to tell their children, and he'd just made it worse.

"A perp I'd put away was out for revenge and tried to frame me for murder," she quickly explained.

"But how did your DNA get there?" Noah asked. It might be Nicole's project, but this was too good to pass up.

Olivia tried her best to explain the crazy science that led to her arrest. The kids were fascinated.

"Daddy, you had to know she wasn't guilty." Nicole said. "DNA or not, you had to know."

Now Ed was really sorry he'd brought this up. At the time he had thought she was guilty. Every cop knew that DNA didn't lie. He'd tried to justify it through PTSD because even then, he couldn't bring himself to think she'd have murdered someone in cold blood. He might have acted like he did, but a part of him always hoped that any cop he went after was truly innocent. His job required him to draw a hard line, but in truth he was usually relieved when he was wrong.

"Why don't you tell them how you handcuffed me and dragged me through the precinct?" Olivia tossed out there not letting him off the hook at all.

"You what?" Noah whipped around so fast to look at his dad that he almost fell out of his chair.

Ed shot Olivia a look. She just cocked her head and gave him a look back that said, _you started it_.

"Did you make her go to jail?" Nicole asked. She was snapping her attention back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.

"Yep, he sure did." Olivia said.

"Were you scared?" Nicole asked.

"I knew I was innocent, and I knew my…squad would get me out and help figure it out." She'd almost said partner, but thought the better of it. That was something she definitely did not want to get into right now. This conversation was weird enough.

After what seemed like dozens of questions from both kids, Olivia finally had enough. "Okay, I think we've exhausted this topic," she said firmly.

Ed looked relieved. He shook his head. What had he been thinking?

"But how am I supposed to explain this?" Nicole asked.

"Well honey, our jobs often put us at odds in those early days." Olivia explained.

"What does that mean?" Nicole asked.

"Your dad's job was a really hard one. He had to investigate other cops." Olivia answered. She went on to explain that for a long time they didn't really like each other, that most cops didn't like IAB, but that it was a necessary bureau for those times when a cop really was doing something wrong.

Nicole was beside herself. She'd only ever known her parents as parents. She couldn't reconcile in her mind that they were people with feelings and even more, that they were once practically enemies.

"People change," Olivia told her. "I'm not the same person I was. And your dad, he's the best man I've ever known. I just didn't get to see that back then."

Ed looked at her. He knew she meant every word. Even after he teased her and dragged them into this ridiculous conversation, she was still reminding their kids that he was a good person. Things had changed a lot since those days.

"Was that the only time you didn't get along?" Nicole asked, getting back to the goal of her assignment.

"Like I said," Olivia said. "The nature of your dad's job often puts him at odds with other cops, so we didn't always like each other back then."

"I'm hungry." Noah said. Now that the dramatic arrest was explained, his interest had waned, and he was reminded of his initial reason fro leaving his bedroom. "Can we order pizza for dinner?"

Olivia was grateful for the interruption. She looked at her phone and saw that it was after 6pm. They'd been talking for hours. While it wasn't her topic of choice, it was nice to have the whole family together.

These days Noah rarely wanted to hang out with the rest of them outside of meal time. She was kind of surprised he was still interested in the conversation. He'd be graduating next spring and off to who knows where, so she cherished anytime that he seemed to want to hang out with them.

It was Sunday. Normally, they'd have a home-cooked meal for which attendance was required. Since they'd been talking all afternoon, no one had been shopping to buy dinner. Olivia decided that pizza was easier than starting something else now, so she nodded.

"Only if you two give your mom and me a break until it gets here," Ed added.

"But you can't leave us hanging," Nicole said. "I have to know how you went from thinking she was a murderer to falling in love." Those last three words were dripping with sap.

"Over dinner," Ed insisted. "Now go."

Nicole looked at Noah who was already on his way back to his room. Realizing her defeat, she sulked down the hallway. Over dinner, she planned to get the rest of the story out of her parents.

* * *

Back in the living room, Ed made his way over to the space next to Olivia on the couch. He slipped his arm around her and pulled her to him.

"Didn't realize how big that can of worms would be." Ed said apologetically.

"Really?" She said in disbelief. "I hadn't planned on ever telling them that story."

"I wasn't thinking."

"Obviously," she teased before she laid her head on his shoulder. "I hadn't thought about that in a long time. It's almost funny at this point."

He pushed her back so he could look at her. "You can't mean that?" That was one of the most difficult conversations they'd had when they first got together. It was true that they had both grown and changed. But it was hard to forget certain incidents, so he couldn't imagine her finding humor in it.

"Seeing it through their eyes?" She explained. "They only know us as their parents. I think it says something that they find it so unbelievable that once upon a time we weren't…friendly."

"That's one way to put it," he laughed. "I'm still sorry I brought it up."

"Don't be. I'm sure it won't be the last time we have to explain something from our pasts to them." She meant it, but there was something else stuck in her mind.

"So you remember the first time we met?" She gave him a suggestive look.

"I can't believe you don't," he teased her. "I only remember because of your hair."

She looked at him with curiosity. "Was it that bad?"

"Not at all," he quickly replied. "I just remember thinking that only a woman as beautiful as you could pull off such a cut."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," she said with a smile.

"I know," he said and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She smiled against his mouth before wrapping her hand around his neck deepening the kiss. He responded immediately and pulled her legs onto his lap.

"Mmm," he hummed in satisfaction before breaking the kiss. "I'm glad we became friendly."

"Yes, friendly is good," she answered quietly before resuming the kiss.

"Ugh," Noah said as he reappeared in the living room. "We wanted to _hear_ how you got over being frenemies, not _see_ it."

Ed and Olivia laughed and broke their kiss, but he held her in place on his lap. A few seconds later, the door buzzed, letting them know their pizza had arrived.

Noah rushed over and answered the buzz, letting the delivery guy into the building. Within minutes they were seated around the coffee table chowing down.

"So…" It didn't take long for Nicole to return to her subject of interest. "Tell me how you went from hating each other to being lovebirds."

"We didn't hate each other, Nicole." Olivia said.

Ed gave her a look that suggested he thought otherwise. She rolled her eyes at him. At one point she probably would have answered that she did hate him, but she couldn't conjure those feelings anymore.

"I don't really know," Olivia was at a loss once again. She knew things had changed after she took command of SVU, but she couldn't pinpoint a specific moment that he became _not_ the enemy.

Ed rolled his eyes back at her and tossed a piece of pizza crust in her direction. The kids watched in anticipation to see how their mother would react.

She just threw her head back and laughed. "I'm sure your dad remembers. He was the one who started it."

He looked at her puzzled. He wasn't sure what she was referring to. He'd definitely been the one who caused the shift in their relationship, but it was clear she had a specific moment in mind. A moment when she realized that's he was interested in more.

"You should try the bourbon," she said giving her best impression of a Tucker smirk.

It was Ed's turn to laugh. "You'd already gotten under my skin by then, but I didn't know if you'd ever be open to the idea of more."

He smiled. They hadn't talked or even thought about this stuff in years. Of course the kids had no idea what they were talking about.

"How long did it take you to wear her down?" Noah asked.

"Noah!" Olivia scolded.

"Sorry, Mom." Noah answered. "I didn't mean it that way. I just meant, how long did it take for him to convince you to…" He felt so awkward talking to his parents about this stuff. "You know go out with him?"

Olivia sighed in relief. She hadn't been sure where that was going.

"Well?" He redirected to his dad when his mom took too long to answer.

"Let's see, it was almost a year after that when we went on our first official date," Ed said. "Right, dear?"

She tossed the pizza crust back at him and nailed him square on the forehead. He never called her "dear" because it just wasn't them, and she hated it.

"Something like that," she answered.

"A year?" Noah muttered to himself.

"When did you know?" Nicole asked her dad.

"Know what?" He played dumb.

"Daddy," she cried. "When did you know you wanted to stop arresting her and starting dating her?"

Olivia got up to grab a bottle of wine that was sitting on the bar that separated the kitchen and living room. They were going to need it if this conversation continued. She found one already opened and poured herself and Ed a glass.

"Yeah, I kinda want to know that, too." Noah said without making eye contact.

Olivia and Ed exchanged a look. They'd suspected for some time that Noah had a crush on a new girl at school, but didn't know how to act on it.

"Well," Ed began. "Despite our past…difficulties, I always admired your mom's compassion for the victims and her strength to keep going even when things must have seemed impossible. But when she took over command of SVU I got to know her in a different way. I realized that I wanted to know more about her as a person and not just a cop."

Olivia handed him a glass of wine before sitting down next to him. She kissed his cheek and couldn't help but notice a small blush had creeped up his neck. He wasn't comfortable talking about his feelings. That was one thing that hadn't changed. She decided to rescue him.

"And eventually, I realized there was more to him than just being a pain in my neck." Olivia teased.

"That's it?" Nicole said. "That's all you're gonna give me?"

"Dad, how'd you ask her out?" Noah was definitely seeking pointers without directly asking for them.

"Well, I didn't really have to at first," Ed explained. "We worked together, so there were plenty of reasons to see each other. Sometimes, you have to get creative and use the times you have to be together because of work _or school_ to show a girl that there's more to you than what she's seen so far."

"Mom, when did you realize your were dating Dad?" Nicole asked. "Wait, that doesn't make sense."

"I know what you mean," Olivia answered her daughter. "Honestly, it took me a little while to stop suspecting his motives weren't related to our jobs and were… personal."

"Did your friends think it was weird when you started dating?" Nicole continued.

Olivia was a little surprised by the depth of Nicole's questions. The girl had always been precocious, but she didn't expect this kind of talk for another few years.

"My friends wanted me to be happy," Olivia said. "And your dad makes me happy." She leaned into him them. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

"No PDA." Noah said and grabbed another piece of pizza. "I mean, honestly, we are trying to eat here."

"We'll keep it PG-rated," Ed responded. Then he turned so he could kiss his wife on the lips. Noah and Nicole both groaned. It was fine that their parents loved each other, but sometimes the kids wished they didn't show it all the time.

Olivia pushed Ed back. "I think they get it."

"So then you decided to get married?" Nicole asked, getting back to her school project.

"Not exactly," Olivia told her. "We dated for a while before we decided to get married. Noah was still little, and we had to consider how our relationship would impact all of us."

"Oh gosh, No," Nicole gushed. "I forgot you were there at the beginning. What do you remember?"

"I was too little." Noah shrugged. "I don't really remember a time before Dad was around."

"Ooh," Nicole interrupted with a sudden spark of enthusiasm. "Can I interview Uncle Sonny or Amanda for my project? I bet they has all kinds of stories from back then."

"No." Ed and Olivia said at the same time.

"What about Papa Don?" Nicole asked hopefully.

"Can't you just use what we've told you?" Olivia asked, almost whining.

"You're leaving stuff out," she said. "I know you are."

"Nicole." Ed warned his daughter.

Olivia reluctantly gave Nicole a few more date stories. Now that it was just mushy stuff, Noah lost interest and went back to his room. Ed turned on the news and moved to take Noah's vacated seat next to Olivia on the couch.

"When did you know Daddy was the one you were going to marry?" Nicole asked looking up at her mom from her spot on the floor.

"Mmm, Paris," Olivia answered easily and put her hand in his.

Ed smiled and squeezed her hand. He knew that would be her answer.

"What about Paris?" Nicole asked.

"Your dad took me to Paris about a year before we got married, and it was during that trip that I knew." Olivia said with a hint of emotion in her voice.

"That you knew?" Nicole was just being cheeky now. She knew what her mom meant.

Olivia just gave her daughter a smile and leaned into Ed. "That he's my endgame."


End file.
